Forerunner 970 - Recent Threads

Forerunner 970 – Voice prompts extremely quiet during offline Spotify playback

5972178 — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 19:08:43 GMT

Device: Garmin Forerunner 970
Software version: 18.32
Music source: Spotify (offline music downloaded directly to the watch)
Tested headphones: Apple AirPods, Shokz OpenFit 2+

Issue description:

When running without my phone, I listen to offline Spotify music downloaded directly to my Forerunner 970.

Every kilometer, the watch announces my pace. The music volume decreases as expected, but the voice announcement is extremely quiet, almost impossible to hear.

The volume is already set to maximum, but the issue persists.

Steps to reproduce:

Connect Bluetooth headphones directly to the Forerunner 970.
Play downloaded Spotify music in offline mode directly from the watch.
Start a running activity with pace announcements enabled.
Wait for the announcement after completing a kilometer.

Additional findings:

Reproduced with both Apple AirPods and Shokz OpenFit 2+.
Volume is set to maximum.
When running with my phone and playing Spotify from the phone, voice prompts are loud and clear.
The issue appears specifically when playing offline Spotify music directly from the watch without a phone.

Expected behavior:

Voice prompts should be clearly audible while the music volume is temporarily reduced.

Previous report and feedback:

I've already reported this issue before but haven't received any meaningful feedback or update. This is frustrating, especially for a premium device like the Forerunner 970.

Could someone from Garmin please acknowledge this issue and confirm whether it's being investigated or if a fix is planned?

Thank you.

Multiple "Devices & Apps" messages in GCM Activity for Rally pedals

PubBike — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 15:40:10 GMT

When I save a cycling activity on my 970 my Rally pedals show 3 different messages under the Devices & Apps section of the Activity page on Garmin Connect Mobile.

e.g.

Rally 100/200

2.3 - Battery: OK

Rally 100/200

4.1 - Battery: OK

Rally 100/200

3.1 - Battery: OK

What is going on here?

I'm posting this here because the messages are presumably coming from the interaction of the pedals with the watch although given that these messages don't appear on Garmin Connect Web this could just as well be posted in the GCM forums.

1 anno dopo è ancora una buona scelta?

Ricki80 — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 12:08:47 GMT

ho il venu 1 e da tempo vorrei passare al venu 4 o al forerunner 970. Sto valutando anche altri orologi ma per il mio utilizzo vorrei rimanere con garmin. Leggendo però tutti i problemi, che non sono stati risolti ho qualche dubbio. Anche banalmente la musica via bluetooth, che uso molto in palestra sarebbe un problema! Succede solo usando provider come spotify o anche con musica memorizzata nel telefono? Ora ho trovato un'offerta a 380€ c.a per il venu 4. (mod. 45mm), secondo voi vale la pena? Stavo valutando anche il forerunner 970 per materiali e mappe, ma ho paura che avendo lo stesso sw e sensore avrei gli stessi problemi, oltre un costo più elevato (c.a. 600€) Grazie a chi vorrà rispondere.

Indoor walking distance way off

spruitp — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 20:13:00 GMT

Did an indoor walk today 4432 steps in 49 minutes. Distance measured at 1,47 km. This is way off should be at least 3 km ore somewhat more. Anything to do about this? In normal gps use no problems. I used the indoor walk activity on the watch.
the link https://connect.garmin.com/app/activity/25017534358

Issue with pace and distance.

5128309 — Sun, 08 Nov 2026 13:32:11 GMT

I just bought yesterday Garmin Forerunner 970. Today i used it to try it in walking activity. The kilometers on the watch was 4 while the real distance was 6,5. The pace on watch was 18-20 while the real was around 11-12. The gps was adjusted in all-multiband and the watch is up to date. When i sync the watch to app the app has the real info: 6,5 kilometers and around 12 pace. But in watch of course everything is wrong (we are talking about 2,5 kilometers). Tomorrow i will return it. Any one has the same issue? Any suggestions?

Face It and Always-On Display on Forerunner 970 – Burn-in risk?

Germano — Sat, 07 Nov 2026 11:46:36 GMT

I’m using a watch face created with Garmin’s official Face It app on my Forerunner 970.

According to Garmin’s official documentation, Face It doesn’t support Always-On Display (AOD). However, it actually works on my 970.

When AOD activates, the watch face remains exactly the same. The only difference is that the brightness decreases. Nothing else changes.

My watch face has a completely black background, with only the time, date and battery percentage displayed in white.

Does anyone know if Face It includes any burn-in protection, such as pixel shifting? Is it safe to leave this watch face visible in AOD for extended periods, considering that all the elements appear to remain in exactly the same positions?

Garmin Forerunner 970 (firmware 18.32) freezes when deviating from the track

5502733 — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 18:46:23 GMT

My Garmin Forerunner 970 running watch is running firmware version 18.32.
The watch freezes completely when I deviate from the navigation track.
If I enable both a running training plan and navigation for a saved route at the same time, the watch will get stuck on the map screen, and I cannot switch back to the data page.
During trail running, the navigation track may crash unexpectedly, the map screen turns white, and the device is unresponsive with no way to return to the data display.

I have owned this watch for less than a month, and these navigation failures occur every time I use route guidance.
This is a critical bug that creates serious safety risks, especially when trail running alone in remote mountains — sudden navigation failure in wilderness areas endangers personal safety.

I hope Garmin attaches great importance to this safety hazard and releases a firmware update to fix these bugs as soon as possible. If these issues cannot be resolved, I request a return and refund.

Speed sensor disconnection

Aydın — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:24:04 GMT

I started using the Forerunner 970 watch. I have a speed sensor on my indoor bike. When I start a workout and begin riding, the speed data disappears from the screen and then reappears, and because of this, the Garmin Coach app treats it as if I hadn’t completed the workout.

Garmin 970 suddenly GPS not accurate

rlamb007 — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 23:27:32 GMT

on recent runs on the same route I take over and over and over again. Suddenly, the GPS data is not the same. In other words, it will have me suddenly veering off the road that I’m running on and then come back on the road. In the end, what used to be the same 3 1/2 mile route is now showing up is over 4 miles at the end. I’ve rebooted the watch looked at the settings. It’s on the most accurate GPS setting. Has anyone else seen this happen? Thanks in advance.

Detailed Trails on Map

9123985 — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 20:51:49 GMT

Are the detailed trails i.e. bright red visible on the maps similar to the Fenix 8? I had a 970 back in February, but after some kind of update (firmware or maps), detailed trails became essentially not visible (default run activity). I had tried changing to high-contrast, etc. but at the time that did not fix it. Ultimately moved on from the 970, but I am considering it again. I had read previous reports of this behavior on the Enduro series as well.

Screen becomes unresponsive randomly

djinks01 — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 14:52:15 GMT

I've been having a recurring issue with my 970 where sometimes the screen will randomly turn off and become unresponsive to touch or button presses. I can still turn on the light, feel the vibrations of menu diving, and hear audio with activities. The only way for me to get my watch to turn back on is turning it off and back on again. This happened overnight not long ago and it didn't track my sleep data because of this. I've had my watch for 2 weeks and its happened about 6 times already. I've already tried reinstalling the software and it happened again after that.

Is this a software issue or should I exchange for a replacement? I've had a few people tell me its happened to them but it doesn't seem so wide spread. It seems like some defective units rather then a global issue with 970s.

[SOLVED] Garmin Forerunner 970 Won’t Pair with New iPhone – Fix Without Factory Reset

5195240 — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 00:24:16 GMT

Hi everyone,

I recently upgraded to a new iPhone and transferred all my data from my old iPhone.

However, my Garmin Forerunner 970 was still associated with my old phone. I removed the watch from the old Garmin Connect app, deleted the app, and checked the Bluetooth pairing records.

Unfortunately, my new iPhone still couldn’t detect the watch, even after scanning the pairing QR code.

What I tried without success:

Turning Bluetooth off and on.
Removing the previous pairing from my old iPhone.
Checking the normal Bluetooth device list.
Repeatedly scanning the Garmin pairing QR code.
Trying to add the watch again through Garmin Connect.

✅ The solution that actually worked for me:

On your NEW iPhone, go to:

Open Settings.
Select Apps.
Find and open Connect (Garmin Connect).
Tap Accessories.
Select your Garmin watch (Forerunner 970 in my case).
Tap Forget This Device.
Open Garmin Connect again and start the pairing process.
Put your Garmin watch into pairing mode and scan its QR code again.

Result: My new iPhone immediately detected the Forerunner 970, and I successfully completed the pairing process.

Important: The key was removing the watch from the iPhone’s app-specific Accessories settings, NOT just the regular Bluetooth settings.

It appears that an existing accessory pairing record on the new iPhone may interfere with the Garmin Connect pairing process, even when the watch is not visible in the normal Bluetooth device list.

I did not need to factory reset my Garmin watch or erase my activity history.

This worked on my Forerunner 970, but the exact settings and results may vary depending on the iOS version and Garmin device.

Hope this helps someone who is having the same frustrating issue after upgrading their iPhone!

Tela

4451237 — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 15:42:31 GMT

Instabilidade na tela do Garmin Forerunner 970 – Tela apaga e exige reinicialização forçada

Adquiri o Garmin Forerunner 970 esperando encontrar um equipamento confiável, especialmente para acompanhar meus treinos.

Entretanto, estou enfrentando problemas recorrentes: a tela deixa de acender com o movimento do pulso, o horário apresenta alterações e, recentemente, o relógio apagou completamente enquanto eu me preparava para iniciar uma atividade de musculação, apresentando um risco na tela.

Para recuperar o funcionamento, precisei realizar uma reinicialização forçada.

O que mais me preocupa é que tive um problema semelhante anteriormente com o Forerunner 165.

Meu Forerunner 970 está na versão 18.32 e, mesmo assim, apresentou essa instabilidade.

Gostaria de um posicionamento oficial da Garmin: existe uma falha de software ou hardware reconhecida nesse modelo? Qual solução está sendo oferecida aos consumidores?

Um relógio desse valor precisa oferecer confiabilidade, principalmente durante os treinos.

Locked screen when in focusmodus activity

stanspang — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 13:44:21 GMT

When my watch is set on activity in the focusmodus the touch screen is locked.
When set on focus the screen is unlocked.

How the set to unlocked?

Scheduled workout and calendar issue after update

8818928 — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 01:52:36 GMT

My watch did an auto update this morning, after update the option for scheduled workouts has completely disappeared. When I navigate to run, select the option for training calendar I get a message to download my calendar. Everyone shows on the connect app the way it normally has, trying to read workouts and sync does not seem to have an effect. Have tried restarting and redoing the software update with no luck.

Forerunner 970 sets time zone to Damascus (Syria) instead of Israel in Golan Heights

4511605 — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 20:27:42 GMT

Hi everyone,

I’m in the Golan Heights (Israel) and my Forerunner 970 keeps setting the wrong time zone.

When Set Time is on Auto, the watch uses GPS and assigns Damascus / Syria (UTC+3) instead of Israel (Asia/Jerusalem, currently UTC+2 after the 25 October DST change). This makes the clock run exactly 1 hour fast.

Correct local time: Israel Standard Time (UTC+2)
What the watch chooses: Damascus (UTC+3)
It prioritizes its own GPS time-zone map over the correct zone from my phone
Setting it to Manual and adjusting the time works, but as soon as it gets a GPS fix it can switch back

The Golan is close to the Syrian border, so it looks like the Time Zone Map data is incorrectly mapping this area to Syria.

Is there a known Time Zone Map update that fixes this, or any better workaround than leaving the watch on Manual?

Thanks!

PacePro "Overall Ahead/Behind" font size does not scale up in 1-field layout

jimmychuang01 — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 09:56:10 GMT

When getting older.

The word “ahead” or “behind” is so small. Even change to I field layout.

or at least use color or symbol “+” “-“. To indicated my current state. 😆

FR 970 decreasing VO2Max by 3 points on every walk!

LMOrunner — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 22:02:23 GMT

My FR970 is on v18.32 now and this issue has been going on since v17.37 (I should've never upgraded from the previous version). I'm a marathon runner with a pretty high VO2Max, and this week went on 2 Walk activities, and after each one my FR970 lowered my VO2Max by 2-3 points!! My heart rate or zones have not changed. But I'm down 6 points just for WALKING??? Are you serious, Garmin? Why in the world are slow leisurely walks even being considered in my running VO2Max score??? It's insane!

Also just to note, the score went down 11 (ELEVEN!) points for no good reason at all in the past several months. That never happened with my previous Garmin watches. Hope you can fix this bug. Maybe hire some real programmers? lol

Bug Report: Vibration Notifications Persist When Do Not Disturb (DND) Mode Is Enabled After Firmware v19.15 Update (Forerunner 970)

SoSo — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 10:17:48 GMT

Hello,

I am writing to report an issue encountered on my Garmin Forerunner 970 following the software update to version 19.15.

After updating to v19.15, incoming notifications continue to trigger vibration alerts even when Do Not Disturb (DND) mode is explicitly turned on. Prior to this update, all vibration alerts were correctly muted during DND mode.

Steps to Reproduce:

Update the watch software to version 19.15.
Enable "Do Not Disturb" mode manually or via the scheduled sleep window.
Receive incoming calls, messages, or app notifications from the connected smartphone.

Observed Behavior: The watch vibrates upon receiving notifications despite DND mode being active.

Expected Behavior: The watch should remain silent and suppress all vibration alerts while DND mode is active.

Please investigate this issue and release a hotfix or patch in an upcoming update.

Thank you.

forums.garmin.com/.../KakaoTalk_5F00_20261027_5F00_191420483.mp4

Wallet code requested every time

Miky — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 09:49:47 GMT

Before last SW updat, the passkey for the wallet was requested once every 24h (if the watch remained on the wrist).

Now sometimes happens that the passkey is requested every time I want to use the wallet, even after 1 min. A restart solves the problem for some day

Another Garmin with elevation influenced by temperature?

Miky — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 09:45:33 GMT

After a Fenix 6 and a FR 955, both with wrong elevation recordings due to the influence of temperature, is this another Garmin with the same issue?

Look at this graph, the elevation should be simmetric over 6.5km (made a run with a 180° turn at the middle, 6.5km)

Software

4017871 — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 21:28:34 GMT

Mój forerunner 970 po wyborze aktywności Tryb zasilania aktywności wszystkie systemy maksymalna dokładność przy baterii 100% pokazuję mi 6h aktywności a wcześniej tego nie było pokazywał normalnie 24h zrobiłem twardy reset bez moich ustawień i danych nadal pokazuję przez chwilę 24h a po kilku minutach już spada do 6h jedynie przy maksymalnym oszczędzaniu pokazuję 45h I nie wiem dlaczego tak jest czy ktoś też ma podobny bug. Nie wiem, czekać na aktualizacje czy zgłosić to

Is there a PacePro fix in progress?

4126693 — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 16:46:53 GMT

Hello,

Two times while using my Forerunner 970 for course map, race tracking and pacepro had a crash after 21 kilometers mark. It looks like PacePro is the problem, since during 30k trail running, watch crashed at 21k and when rebooted back it was down, leaving only course map and race tracking.

Is there any plans for a fix or at the moment it looks like no hope?

One of the reasons why I have chosen FR970 was PacePro and now it useless.

Reduce Vibration Intensity?

Nico — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 23:47:31 GMT

Has anyone found a way to lower the vibration strength on the Forerunner 970?

As far as I can tell, the Sound & Vibration menu only lets you turn vibration on or off, with no intensity setting.

The current vibration is way too strong for everyday notifications, especially at night, but turning it off completely means I miss alerts. A simple Low / Medium / High option, ideally adjustable per Focus Mode, would solve this.

Has anyone else raised this, or found a workaround or setting I’m missing? Has Garmin said anything about adding it in a future update?

I’ve also submitted it through the Garmin Ideas page.

Thanks!

Touch lock not working

luis — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 13:01:53 GMT

Hey guys, looking for some help here.

I am not able to activate the touch lock on my watch. I have tried every possible way; if I go to settings and turn it on, the switch is green, but the touch screen still works. When using the shortcut, it only says 'touch lock off,' and when pressing it again, it still shows 'touch lock off.' In controls, it is always labeled as off, and tapping on it or using the button doesn't change anything.

The thing is, after restarting the watch and trying again, the touch lock works, but after a few minutes, it goes back to the way it was.

Is anyone else having the same issues?